Renting Question

[LawrenceFamily]

Hi everyone,

We're looking to rent our points next year as we're going to Thailand instead and I have had someone on FB who has said they want to rent some of the points from us.

I've rented points before and have a contract so everyone is protected and in the past, I have made the reservation and provided a screenshot of the reservation so they know it's been made and then requested payment.

The renter has said they don't feel comfortable making the payment without linking the reservation to MDE. Whilst I totally respect they want peace of mind, I also want to make sure that if they link it to MDE and then they don't pay me, that I am able to still cancel the reservation and reclaim the points?

If there's no risk on my end then i'd be happy to provide them with peace of mind and allow them to link it first, but done want to risk losing the points if that's a possibility.

Has anyone had experience with this that could advise?

Thanks everyone

 

[starry_solo]

Yes, you can still cancel the reservation even if they've linked them to MDE.
You maintain the ability to cancel anything until they've checked into the resort.

 

[LawrenceFamily]

Perfect - thank you Starry_solo

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Also providing the reservation number prior to payment, so they can link it to their MDE and see it’s not a scam, is standard for a DVC rental deal unless you’re borrowing points or making a reservation less than 30 days out, since there’s 0 risk to an owner. An owner who isn’t willing to do this is going to cause all kinds of scam red flags to go up.

 

[DanCali]

Also providing the reservation number prior to payment, so they can link it to their MDE and see it’s not a scam, is standard for a DVC rental deal unless you’re borrowing points or making a reservation less than 30 days out, since there’s 0 risk to an owner. An owner who isn’t willing to do this is going to cause all kinds of scam red flags to go up.

Out of curiosity, how easy is it to "unlink" a reservation from a renter who doesn't pay but linked the reservation in their MDE? Does it drop from their MDE if you modify the primary guest's name back to yourself?

It may be zero risk, but I still typically ask for a small deposit with the signed contract when renting out a reservation, just to make sure the renter is serious and to avoid the situation I describe above. In my view, a request for a small deposit (10%-15%, and max $200) is reasonable and I've never lost a renter over that particular issue (while I did lose a potential renter or two over requests for "payment plans" I wasn't willing to do).

 

[cvjw]

Out of curiosity, how easy is it to "unlink" a reservation from a renter who doesn't pay but linked the reservation in their MDE? Does it drop from their MDE if you modify the primary guest's name back to yourself?

When I rented out one of my confirmed reservations thru a broker last year, I could not change the lead guest online, it was a call member services issue. Since I had linked the reservation to my MDE account, the broker sent me detailed instructions about getting the lead names changed with member services. They told me that the reservation can’t be attached to another MDE account unless it is unlinked the proper way.

Things could have changed since then though!